


The Buddy Bench

by softsadcancer



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: DAN AND PHIL - Freeform, M/M, One Shot, Phan - Freeform, Phandom - Freeform, but they're both kids, dnp, phanfic, so basically a really young dan and a really young phil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:03:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22840702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softsadcancer/pseuds/softsadcancer
Summary: "What's a buddy bench? Does it work?""We'll have to find out, won't we?"-In which a new student makes a friend on the buddy bench, but perhaps not how it was intended.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	The Buddy Bench

The bell rang for recess and all the students ran out screaming. The teacher looked tired and didn't even try to stop them as she gathered her things and put them in her bag. As she was about to leave the class, she sees one student still in his seat, slowly removing his lunch box and setting it on the table. His black hair fell over his glasses, covering his eyes. He had to constantly push it back to see where he was looking. The teacher continued to look at him until she met his brilliant blue eyes beneath his hair. The student pushed it back again and gave her a small smile.

"Thank you for class today, Miss Martinez," he said quietly. "Sorry I wasn't very active, I promise I'll raise my hand next time."

Phil Lester, the new kid. He had just moved to town a few days ago and started school shortly after. At least, that was the news going around. He was a good kid. He did his work diligently, he was quiet and respectful, and even though he was incredibly shy, he would still answer in class when called upon. It was hard to find a kid like that in this school. Every other boy was loud and noisy.

"It's okay, Phil," she said with a smile. She was about to leave when it struck her that he was eating lunch in class. She turned around and stood at the doorway. "Why don't you go out and play with the other boys?"

"Ahh," Phil coughed and took his time to chew his sandwich, his hand midair as he held a pencil over his sudoku book. "I, uh, I don't have any friends yet."

"Well, you can go make some."

Phil fidgeted in his seat. He didn't need to say it for her to know what he was going to say. He was _definitely_ very shy.

"I'm quite old," Phil finally said.

"How old are you?" She asked, puzzled.

"I'm 11."

"Oh." Sure, he was in a classroom of 10-year olds, but were things really that different between a 11 and an 10-year old? Smiling, she walked up to him. "That's okay, one year isn't that much of a difference," she said.

"I suppose not," Phil said. "But they still don't want to be my friend because I'm older than them." He looked so sad, and his eye looked even bluer, and she couldn't tell if they had always been that blue or if he was on the verge of crying. "They like different things from me."

"Aw Phil," She grabbed a chair nearby and sat next to him. He continued to eat his food in silence, brows furrowed over a particular puzzle he was on. Miss Martinez marveled at the notion of 11-year-old doing sudoku; not many kids his age would even look twice at puzzles like these.

"I see you like sudoku," she said.

Phil nodded and gave her a small smile. "Yeah, my grandad used to do them all the time in the newspaper, and I thought it was an interesting puzzle because of all the numbers."

"Yeah, not many kids your age would play it."

"I guess I'm not like many kids."

He looked outside as boys ran around screaming. Miss Martinez followed his gaze and then stumbled upon the bright yellow empty bench. The buddy bench.

Many months ago, the school had installed the bench in hopes that it would help to build friendships between the students. However, no one to date has used it, as many of the students already had friends by the time it had been installed. So for now, it was just another bench that was painted bright yellow and stood out in the school's yard.

Miss Martinez stood up and reached out her hand to Phil. "Come with me."

Phil's eyes went wide. "Where?"

"You'll see."

Phil hesitated. Was he being punished for not making friends? Surely not.

Right?

"Am I in trouble?" Phil asked slowly. He gripped on to the side of the table, visibly scared.

"Oh, no no!" Miss Martinez exclaimed. She pointed to the yellow bench outside. "You see that bench? That's our buddy bench."

"What's a buddy bench?" Phil asked, loosening his grip on the table.

"It's a bench for students who are having a hard time making friends," Miss Martinez explained. "You sit there, and people will know you would like to have a friend, so they'll come up to you and be your friend."

"Does it work?" Phil asked, eyes full of hope and wonder. Could this bench be the end to all his lonely recess breaks? Could he finally get a friend?

"We'll have to find out, won't we?" Miss Martinez winked at him, her hand still outstretched.

Excited and eager, Phil packed the remainder of his sandwich and his sudoku book into his Harry Potter lunchbox, clutched it in one arm and took Miss Martinez's hand with his other. Smiling, the two walked out of class into the yard. The boys were playing football while the girls sat in circles playing their own games or talking. All this excited Phil. He beamed at the sight of it all, thoughts racing in his head of him joining the boys in a game of football or sitting with the girls having a nice chat.

"Now you just sit here and I'm sure someone will come and get you," Miss Martinez said warmly as they reached the bench.

"Okay!" Phil said eagerly as he sat on the bench. He looked back up at Miss Martinez and gave her a toothy smile. "Thank you, miss."

She smiled and walked back into the school building. Phil watched her disappear and removed his half-eaten sandwich from his lunchbox. He continued to watch people play on their own. His smile still stayed on his he ate, his legs swinging in the air. When he finished his lunch, he put his empty box beside him and sighed, content. The match seemed intense as the boys continued their screaming and shouting.

"Pass the ball!"

"Pass it here!"

"I'm open, pass it here!"

_Now you just sit here and I'm sure someone will come and get you._

He took out his sudoku notebook and attempted to finish today's puzzle. It was a little harder than yesterday's, but there was nothing a little determination and patience couldn't solve. Every now and then he would steal glances at the boys in hopes that one of them would notice him and invite him over to play. But they seemed very engrossed in their game.

The girls were a lot quieter. He watched as they stole glances in his direction, giggling every now and then. Were they laughing at him?

Slightly embarrassed, he removed his glasses, wiping away imaginary dust and finger marks. Putting them back on, he glanced in their direction and realized they were stood up and walking in his direction. Finally, some friends!

Or so he thought. While they were walking towards him, it wasn't to invite him over to be their friend. If anything, it was to pick on him for his lack of friends.

"Oh dear, look's like someone's on the loser bench today," one of the girls sniggered. The other girls laughed with her.

"Ew, is that supoku?" one of the girls exclaimed. They all jeered at him and laughed.

"It's sudoku, actually," Phil said, feeling his chest tighten up. "It's not that bad, it's actually kinda fun when-"

"Shut up, no one cares! It's all number which means you're a math nerd!"

"Math isn't that bad," Phil began but was cut off again.

"You talk too much for someone who's new," said another one of the girls, tossing her shiny blond hair over her shoulder. "Like a recorder on loop."

"I don't get it," he said slowly. Why were they being so mean?

"Kinda like how you don't get friends," one of the girls mocked. Again, the girls erupted into a fit of laughter. Phil suddenly felt superbly embarrassed as the girls continued to laugh at him. He looked down at his lunchbox as his eyes were pricking with tears.

"Alright, by emo loser _nerd_ ," the girls called out as they walked away. Phil waited till he couldn't hear their voices anymore. He looked up to see them entering the school building. He noticed some of the boys looking in his direction and he suddenly felt incredibly self-conscious. He felt the tears in his eyes slide down his cheeks and jumped off the bench, lunchbox in hand.

This was a bad idea, he should've never left class. He should have just stayed there and eaten his lunch instead. Now everyone saw him being bullied by a group of girls and if he didn't get back inside soon enough, they were all going to see him cry. And at that moment, he couldn't decide which was worse.

Not wanting to take any chances of being caught crying by a bunch of 10-year-olds, he walked as quickly as possible back into the building, hoping to run straight into a bathroom stall and have a good cry before his next class began. However, his embarrassment wasn't over just yet.

A couple of boys on the field weren't paying attention to the game, captured by what was going on by the yellow bench with the new kid and the girls. Because of their lost focus, when the ball was kicked in their direction, some of the boys missed trying to stop the ball and it flew over their heads.

"Watch out!"

Phil looked to see where the voice was coming from and was immediately greeted with a ball to his head. It hit him square in the face, and he's heard the crack of his glass breaking in two as he fell over. The cracked part of the glasses gave him a small cut on his nose. It wasn't that painful, but after everything Phil went through at that moment, from the jeering girls to now being hit in the face, Phil had to cry.

"Is he okay?"

"Did we hurt him?"

"Someone check on him!"

"Michael, you idiot, look what you've done!"

All the boys rushed over from where they were standing, crowding Phil as he lay curled up on the floor, holding his face and crying quietly.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Phil looked up and all he could see were boys, every inch of the sky above him covered as the boys continued to get closer and crowd him.

"Is he alive?"

"What should we do?"

"Do we tell Mr. Adams?"

"Someone take him to the nurse!"

"Is he breathing?"

Phil struggled to speak, as the words got stuck in his throat. He wanted nothing more than to sit up and breathe but all the boys around him were making it impossible for him. He needed space. A lot of it. This was all too much in one day.

"Breathe..." he whispered, raising his arms and waving it about.

"Does he need a hand?"

"Someone give him a hand!"

"Pull him up!"

"Wait, shut up!" a little boy screamed, pushing his way through the crowd. "Let him speak!" He crouched very close to Phil and whispered, "Are you okay?"

"Breathe..." Phil whispered again. "I can't breathe."

"Oh, okay hang on," he said softly. He held on to Phil's hand and stood up. "Move, you dingoes, the poor lad can't breathe with all of you ogling at him. Move!"

For a small boy, the smallest of the group, he has a very loud voice. And an even louder impact. They all moved out immediately and Phil could see the sun again. The little boy was still holding on to his hand. Pulling him up, Phil was able to get a better look at him.

He was a little shorter than Phil and had a pretty mop of brown curly hair that adorned the top of his head. He had sweet sparkly brown eyes that looked kind but also held some mischief beneath them. When he smiled, he revealed two dimples on each side of his face, which Phil thought was very cute.

"Oh dear, you've got a small cut on your nose," the dimpled boy said. "Let's get you to the nurse." 

"Okay," Phil croaked. He picked up broken glasses and put them in his lunchbox. Still holding his hand, the young boy led the way to the nurse's office. "You guys play on without me, I'll take him to Alice," He called out.

Phil clutched on to his lunchbox tightly, feeling the embarrassment slowly seep in. Literally, his day couldn't get any worse. First, he had a bunch of girls make fun of his sudoku. Then a ball hit him right in the face in front over everyone. And above all, none of it earned him a friend in any way. He probably would have had a better chance and just sitting in class doing nothing.

_Well, maybe not. You still haven't managed to get a friend that way._

Yeah, well, it sure beats having to go through all that he had.

"Sorry about earlier."

Phil looked to see the dimples boy giving him a small smile. "Michael loves to show everyone how good his shots are and sometimes goes overboard," he continued. "One time he broke one of the classroom windows, but we didn't tell anyone so he's never been caught for it yet. The headmaster was real angry about it."

Phil smiled back. "Oh, it's fine. I mean, my nose isn't broken, so that's good."

"I'm Dan, by the way." He reaches out his other hand to shake Phil's but remembered he was holding Phil's hand already, so he grinned and shook it.

"I'm Phil."

"You from around here? I don't remember seeing you ever."

"Yeah, my family just moved here a while ago, so I'm still kind of new to this school."

Dan nodded. "Makes sense. No wonder you came over with Miss Martinez and sat on the buddy bench."

"Does it actually work, the buddy bench?"

"I've never seen anyone use it," Dan said with a shrug. "To us, it's just a yellow normal bench."

The had reached the nurse's office. Dan knocked on the door and entered when they heard a soft 'come in'. Phil remembered walking past this door on his to class and on his way back home from school and wondering what it looked like. 

It smelt very clean, with a slight hint of something sweet. Maybe strawberry? Cherry? He'll never know, but it didn't smell sickly clean like a hospital, which was nice. Hospital smells seemed to make him nauseous. There was a wide window where most of the light was from and some small dangling garden accessories adorning the frame. There were two beds, a cabinet of medications and cream and a small brown desk. And at the desk, sat a little old woman dressed in white with round glasses perched atop her nose.

"Hello, Daniel," she said sweetly. "What do we have here?"

"Hi Alice," Dan said with a smile. His dimples popped up again and Phil smiled. _I wonder if Dan knows he has a nice smile._

Dan led him to one of the beds and sat him down. "My friend Phil here got socked in the face by a football and cut his nose." He said as he sat next to Phil.

_Friend?_

"Oh dear, let's take a look, shall we?"

Alice walked over to Phil and examined his face. "Well, the good news is that it's not a deep cut, so we'll just clean it up and put a bandage on it."

"Will it scar?" Phil asked quietly.

"It's a shallow cut, I wouldn't imagine it would be a noticeable one," Alice said kindly.

"And even if it did," Dan said with a grin. "I think you'd look pretty cool with a scar on your nose!"

"You think?" Phil said shyly.

"Yeah! Everyone will wanna know how you got it!"

"But getting hit in the face by a football isn't very interesting."

"Don't worry, we can make up a fun story for you to tell others!"

_We?_

Alice brought a small wet cotton ball to Phil's nose. Despite it being a small cut, it still stung as she cleaned it. Dan held his hand again. "You can squeeze my hand if you'd like."

Phil didn't have to be told twice and squeezed little Dan's hand.

Alice brought out some antiseptic cream, applied it and then placed a small bandage over his nose. "Alright, good as new, love," Alice said, giving Phil's face a little pat. She walked over to his desk and brought out a large container of red lollies. "Would you like one?"

"Ooo yes please!" Phil exclaimed, reaching in and grabbing one.

"Daniel?" Alice said with a grin.

"Don't have to ask me twice!" Dan grinned back and took one out.

The two boys jumped off the bed and headed out. "Thanks, Alice," Phil said, smiling.

"Yeah, thanks for the lollies too!" Dan said, waving his in the air.

"No worries!" Alice said cheerfully.

The two walked out and stood outside her room. 

"You like Harry Potter?" Dan suddenly asked.

"Uh," Phil looked at his lunchbox. "Yeah."

"Me too!" Dan smiled. "Which house do you belong to? Did you use Pottermore?"

Phil suddenly got excited. Not many guys he knew liked Harry Potter. What luck that he's managed to find _someone_ other than Martyn who did! 

Just as he was about to answer, the same group of girls from earlier walked by. "Oh hey, sopuko boy!" They mocked, laughing.

"Shut up, Morgan," Dan spat, defending Phil. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

"Watch it, Howell," Morgan spat back. "I wasn't talking to you."

"Yeah, well you're talking to my friend, so back off!"

_Am I his friend?_

"You're such a tiresome bug," Morgan rolled her eyes. "Always trying to play Jesus and save people."

"Better than playing a slithering venomous manipulative _snake_!"

The girls gasped. "Yeah? Well, you're a dog!" They retorted.

"Man's best friend, I'll take it," Dan shrugged, smiling.

"You're an absolute prick," Morgan snarled. 

"Yeah? Well, if you're not careful, I'll prick you!" Dan jumped in front of them, earning a small squeal. "I'll get my boys to come after you, like the last time if you keep annoying Phil."

A wave of panic washed over them. "I'll tell on you if you do!" Morgan exclaimed.

"Then leave Phil alone, you bully."

The girls breathed out and rolled their eyes. "Whatever, you're both losers anyways. A nerd and a dumb baby." They pushed past Dan and Phil back to the yard outside, laughing all the way.

"Don't mind them," Dan waved in their direction. "They're actually very harmless. They like to think they're super popular and whatnot. But they're really not."

"Then why do they act the way they do?" Phil asked. 

"Beats me," Dan said. "But it sure makes them look ugly."

"Yeah."

The two walked down the hallway to Phil's class. "So what house are you in?" Dan asked again.

Oh right, their conversation from earlier! "Hufflepuff!" Phil said proudly. "You?"

"I don't know," Dan said with a smile. "My mum wouldn't let me use the computer because I'm still too young.

"How old are you?"

"9."

"Oh, you're probably the youngest person I've met!" Phil exclaimed.

"I am," Dan said with a grin. "Apparently I was too smart for my previous grade, so they bumped me up."

"I believe you," Phil said. "You've got a fantastic vocabulary."

Dan waved him off. "I like learning fancy words that mean something simple. It makes me sounds smart too."

"That's the opposite for me," Phil said smiling sadly. "I wasn't smart enough, so they bumped me down."

"How old are you?"

"11."

"Oh, that's not too bad! I wouldn't have guessed it!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! Plus 11 isn't that far away from 10 anyways."

"I suppose not."

They walked to Phil's desk and he put his lunchbox on his table. "You know," Phil said. "If you want to know what your Hogwarts House is, you can come to my place one day. My brother Martyn as a laptop of his own so we can use his. I'm sure he'll let us if I asked."

Dan's eyes sparkled. "Really?"

"Yeah," Phil smiled. "I mean, that's what friends do, right?"

"That's so cool!" Dan exclaimed. "None of the lads I'm friends with really read Harry Potter. It's so nice to find someone who does!"

"Oh, I feel the same!" Phil said excitedly. He opened his lunchbox and took out his broken glasses.

"Can you see without them?"

"Not really," Phil said, putting them in his bag. He removed a small container where his contact lenses were. "But that's why I've got these in case."

"What's that?"

"Contact lenses."

"Sick, can I see you put them on?"

Phil nodded and unscrewed the caps. The whole time while he put them on, Dan watched in amazement. "Woah..."

"Does it hurt?" Dan finally asked.

"Not really, just a little annoying to put on and take off, but it helps me to see, so that's good." Phil blinked a few and smiled. "Much better."

Dan took Phil's glasses and put them to his eyes. "Lord, you're as blind as a bat, Phil."

"Yeah, I've been told," Phil giggled. "Like a vampire bat, because I'm as pale as a vampire."

"Nah," Dan shook his head. "Maybe a fruit bat, because they're sweet."

Phil beamed and Dan. That was one of the nicest things he's ever heard in a long time. Dan is such a sweet boy.

He put the empty container back in his bag and was just about to close his lunchbox when Dan took out his sudoku book.

"Is this what the girls were talking about?" Dan asked, flipping through the pages.

"Yeah, it's sudoku."

"What is it?"

"It's like a number puzzle," Phil said as he explained how it worked.

"Oh cool, can I try?"

"Yeah, of course!" Phil beamed. "I'll show you."

So for the rest of the duration of recess, the two boys sat quietly doing a sudoku puzzle. It was a little tougher than Dan had anticipated, but Phil was right there to help him throughout. When the bell rang to announce the end of recess, Dan stood up and smiled. "Can we do the Pottermore thing today, if you're okay with it? I really want to know what house I'll get!"

"Yeah, of course!" Phil said excitedly. He couldn't believe it, someone wanted to hang out with him!

"I'll just call my mum from your place and let her know. Where do you live?"

"Um, do you know where Abbey Road is?"

"Near Clemenceau Avenue?"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah, I live nearby there, actually!" Dan jumped up and down. "How neat, we're practically neighbours!"

"That's so cool!" Phil exclaimed, just as excited. 

"Funny how I haven't bumped into you yet." 

"Still new to the area, remember?" Phil said, sticking his tongue out.

"Oh yeah," Dan laughed. Kids from the outside started walking into the classroom. "Okay, so I'll meet you at the entrance after school?"

"Yeah, can't wait!"

"Me neither!" Dan said, grinning. "See ya, Phil!"

"Bye Dan!"

Dan zig-zagged through the desks and shot out of the classroom. Phil watched him go, excitement buzzing through his head. He actually made a friend, finally!

The teacher walked in and began his class. All Phil could do was look out of the window at the lonely yellow bench sitting outside on its own.

_"Does it actually work, the buddy bench?"_

_"I've never seen anyone use it. To us, it's just a normal bench."_

Nope, it was definitely a buddy bench. And it definitely worked.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! So this was just a short story inspired by this yellow buddy bench we've got at our university (sat on it and nobody came, so sadly it didn't work for me but maybe I wasn't hit in the head with a football that had people coming to see if I was okay :p)  
> I hope you liked it! It's meant to be a one-shot but maybe, who knows? :)


End file.
